Dutch riot police use water cannons to break up a curfew protest on January 24, 2021 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

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Paulo Amorim / Sipa USA / SIPA

Clashes with the police and looting broke out on Sunday in several cities in the Netherlands on the sidelines of protests against the curfew put in place since Saturday to fight the Covid-19 epidemic, according to Dutch media and authorities local.

A water cannon and police dogs were deployed on the Museumplein, a square in central Amsterdam where there were hundreds of demonstrators, according to public television NOS.

In Eindhoven, in the south of the country, the police used tear gas to disperse a crowd of several hundred people, according to regional television Omroep Brabant.

Several vehicles were set on fire and businesses in Eindhoven Central Station were looted, according to Omroep Brabant.

"At least thirty people have been arrested," Eindhoven police told AFP, saying they did not have a record of any injured.

A Covid-19 screening center burned down

The Dutch railway company NS called on travelers to "avoid" the Eindhoven Centraal station where train traffic was interrupted due, according to it, to the intervention of emergency services nearby.

A Covid-19 testing center was also set on fire on Saturday evening in the village of Urk, in the north of the country, as the national curfew imposed by the government came into force, local authorities said.

“The fire in a screening center in Urk exceeds all limits,” Health Minister Hugo de Jonge said on Sunday.

The Netherlands began its first curfew since World War II on Saturday.

It is forbidden to leave your home between 9 p.m. and 4:30 a.m., at least until February 9.

Any offender incurs a fine of 95 euros.

Curfew irritates part of the population

Certain exemptions are possible, in particular for people returning from funerals or those having to work during the curfew, on condition that they present a certificate of displacement.

Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Wednesday that the decision to institute a curfew had been bolstered by the spread of the British variant of the coronavirus.

According to Mark Rutte, the curfew must avoid compulsory daytime confinement, while since the start of the health crisis, the Dutch have never had to justify their movements.

In addition to having raised the opposition of certain deputies, including the leader of the extreme right Geert Wilders, the curfew arouses the anger of a part of the population.

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  • Coronavirus

  • Netherlands

  • World

  • Covid 19

  • Curfew

  • Amsterdam